Yesterday, for the 40th time, Democrats blocked an effort from Republicans to provide critical assistance to small businesses and workers. The legislation, H.R. 8265, is not remotely controversial and would simply allow small businesses to access over $130B in unspent funds that remains in the Paycheck Protection Program.
Instead of quickly agreeing to this common sense bill that would offer key relief and allow small businesses to keep paying their employees, Democrats have blocked its consideration on the floor 40 times, and have also refused to sign a discharge petition that would allow the legislation to receive an up-or-down vote on the floor.
The 40th instance of them blocking this legislation happened yesterday when Rep. Steve Chabot, who sponsored the bill initially, attempted to defeat the previous question which would allow lawmakers to vote on this proposal but every single Democrat opposed the effort.
- Breitbart: “House Democrats Block Small Business Aid Extension for 40th Time”
See below for background on the previous 39 examples of Democrats blocking this uncontroversial bill that would help workers across the country:
August 22: Democrats defeated the previous question (171-230), preventing consideration of H.R. 8087 to re-open and expand the Paycheck Protection Program.
September 23: Democrats defeated the previous question (190-231) preventing consideration of H.R. 8265 to re-open and expand the Paycheck Protection Program.
September 30: Democrats defeated the previous question (185-229) preventing consideration of H.R. 8265 to re-open and expand the Paycheck Protection Program.
October 1: Democrats defeated the previous question (187-226) preventing consideration of H.R. 8265 to re-open and expand the Paycheck Protection Program.
October 1: Democrats block 35 unanimous consent requests from Republicans to bring up H.R. 8265 to re-open and expand the Paycheck Protection Program.
In addition to these efforts, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler announced on September 18th that she would offer a petition to discharge H.R. 8265 to the floor. It ripened on September 25th and, to date, 186 members have signed it, but not a single Democrat has joined. On September 27th, 23 Democrats signed a letter to Speaker Pelosi indicating that they would sign the discharge petition to help small businesses if Speaker Pelosi refused to work in a bipartisan way to provide relief. The Speaker clearly has not done that, but these Democrats still have not signed on to the discharge petition, proving that they are more interested in political posturing than taking action to help American workers who need aid.
This has part of a pattern that House Democrats have followed since March. At every opportunity, they have put their partisan agenda before the best interest of the nation and blocked relief for Americans that need it:
Nancy Pelosi and Democrats have a history of obstructing critical relief for American families and workers…
Democrats chose to prioritize their partisan agenda at every turn.
The American people deserve better. pic.twitter.com/A3Hk6fZZ8o
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) October 20, 2020